By Andria Cheng

The struggling retailer
/quotes/zigman/237947/quotes/nls/jcpJCP said on Thursday afternoon that its first-quarter loss widened to $348 million, or $1.58 a share, from $163 million, or 75 cents a share. Excluding items, the company said it lost $1.31 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet estimated the Plano, Texas-based retailer to lose $1.06 a share.

Sales dropped 16.4% to $2.64 billion. As previously reported, comparable sales declined 16.6%. Gross margin narrowed to 30.8% from 37.6% as the company cleared merchandise and accelerated promotions to lure shoppers back to its stores.

Still, investors look to continue to give the company the benefit of the doubt. Penney shares rose 1% in after-hours trading.

Since Ullman returned, the stock is up more than a third, compared with a 5.2% increase of the S&P 500.

Investors appear relieved the company’s cash burn wasn’t worse than expected. Ullman also has lined up several lines of financing, including a $1.75 billion loan through Goldman Sachs. Investor George Soros’s fund also has accumulated a stake to be one of the company’s top shareholders.

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About Behind the Storefront

Behind the Storefront is a blog about all things retail. It’s aimed at investors, shoppers and anyone else with a passion for learning about what drives consumer behavior. Hosted by Andria Cheng, Behind the Storefront will cover the business, brands and shopping behavior that’s behind some of the biggest companies, and largest employers, in the world. You can reach Andria at Acheng@marketwatch.com.